


Dreams My Heart Didn't Wish For

by smckee377



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom
Genre: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:14:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24157210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smckee377/pseuds/smckee377
Summary: Time takes the boys to visit Princess Ruto, but upon their return to Lon Lon Ranch, Wild starts to act strangely. He insists that he is totally fine, leaving Time and Twilight feeling deeply uneasy.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 252





	1. Party with a Princess, After party with physical labor

“How much further is it? I can’t wait!” Wind shouts excitedly, racing ahead of the group. 

“It’s not far, but you’re not doing yourself any favors right now. You’ll need your energy to actually get there,” Time calls out to him. 

“Time, I’m pretty sure we are all more than capable of walking somewhere,” Warriors says jokingly. 

“The walking isn’t the part I’m referring to,” Time grins back. Warriors smirk falters slightly, but he shrugs. 

“Climbing’s not so bad either,” he adds. 

“Still not quite getting it.” Warriors frowns fully. 

“What? Do you expect me to fly?” 

“Almost.” Warriors stops walking as Time continues forward, grinning at himself. 

“How do you make any sense of what he means?” Warriors says as Twilight catches up to him. 

“Most times it’s just common sense, which we’re all more than capable of, right?” Twilight answers. Warriors huffs and resumes walking as Legend and Four start to pass him. Twilight looks around. “Has anyone seen Wild? I think he wandered off again.” 

“He and Hyrule are up there!” Wind shouts from the front of the pack. Twilight looks and sees him pointing at a cliffside along a river not too far ahead of them. Sure enough, he can see Wild and Hyrule standing on the edge looking over into the river. Twilight sighs deeply and puts his hand on his forehead. Time glances back at him. 

“You may want to--oh wait. There they go.” Twilight immediately snaps his head back up just in time to see Wild and Hyrule falling off the cliff right into the water. A few seconds later, they break through the surface and swim back to shore. As the group approaches, the pair are laughing. “Come on, boys. We’re most of the way there. Now for the fun part,” Time says, smiling. Wild and Hyrule immediately stop laughing. 

“The fun part?” Hyrule asks. 

“You never call adventuring the fun part,” Wild says suspiciously. Time doesn’t respond to them and goes along the river’s edge. The rest of the group follows and, when they round the corner, they see exactly what “the fun part” is. Warriors’s jaw drops a little. 

“Why is this here?” he asks incredulously, gesturing before him at the gated fences, crisscrossing land bridges, octorocks, keese, and narrow precipices before them. 

“Because the Zora can just swim up the river,” Time answers as he nonchalantly leaps the gate and starts climbing a cliffside to one of the precipices connected to a land bridge. The initial shock wears off the others and Wild and Hyrule tear recklessly ahead, quickly surpassing Time and vanishing over several of the bridges. The others take their time and exhibit more caution as they follow Time’s lead. Finally, they reach a waterfall where two of the land bridges form an X. Wild and Hyrule are nowhere to be seen, but Time doesn’t seem at all bothered by this prospect. 

“Well now what?” Warriors asks. 

“You seem to be complaining an awful lot. Are you nervous?” Time asks gently. 

“I’m not nervous,” Warriors answers a little too quickly. Four and Legend grin behind Time’s shoulders. “This is just a dead end.” Time smiles at him and pulls out an ocarina. Without a word, he raises it to his lips and plays a short tune that sounds familiar and comforting to the assembled Links. Just as Time puts the ocarina away, the waterfall before them splits apart and reveals a cave. Time takes a couple of steps back, then runs and jumps across into the cave. The others follow suit and find themselves in a much larger cavern than they had expected. 

“More of you?!” The Links look around for the source of the voice and find Wild and Hyrule (drenched) talking to a Zora woman. “By the gods, Link!” She comes forward and attacks Time with a hug. He awkwardly hugs her back. “What is all this? Is this your way to beg forgiveness for not marrying me like you promised?” She puts a hand on her hips and waggles her finger teasingly in front of Time’s nose. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Legend says. 

“Ruto!” Warriors calls, hands in the air. She turns and sees him, a huge smile breaking out across her face. 

“Link!” She goes over to him and attacks him with a hug as well, though he happily returns it. 

“It has been ages. I didn’t realize you knew Time here!” 

“I didn’t realize you did, either! Things have been very strange with all the traveling going on,” she responds. 

“Wait, you two are a thing, too?” Legend asks even more confused. Warriors and Ruto laugh lightly. 

“No, but she did help me in the war for my Hyrule,” Warriors explains. 

“Oh I wouldn’t say no so quickly,” Ruto says flirtatiously, bumping her hip lightly against Warriors’s. Warriors laughs a little, embarrassed, and runs his hand through his hair. 

“Everyone, this is Princess Ruto,” Time explains, “As a child, Ruto insisted that we were going to get married, but that did not come to pass.” 

“Not yet it hasn’t. I still have eight more chances,” Ruto says, smiling seductively and looking over the group of Links before her. Wind and Four shift uncomfortably while most of the others stare at her incredulously. Warriors simply laughs. “Come! We must celebrate such a wonderful arrival of friends!” Without hesitation, Ruto dives beautifully into the water basin of the cavern and swims up the waterfall. After a beat of silence, Wild says, “I can do that, too.” The others look around at him just in time to see him splash into the water (much less gracefully) and follow Ruto. 

“I think we’ll take a drier route,” Time says, gesturing to a very visible ramp just off to one side. The others immediately agree and follow Time up to the throne room for whatever celebration the Zora princess has in mind. 

  
  


“Well good morning, boys,” Malon calls out to the approaching party of Links. “Did you have a nice time with Ruto? That quick visit certainly wasn’t as quick as I thought,” she says, grinning. 

“It was dark already. Some of us really needed the sleep,” Time says half whispering and gesturing to Warriors. Warriors slaps Time’s hand away and puts his own hands on his head. 

“Do you have to be so loud? My head hurts like a Goron is sitting on it,” he mutters. Malon stifles her laughter. 

“Why don’t you come inside, dear. I’ll get you some bread and water.” She gently leads Warriors inside while the others disperse around the ranch. Time notices Wild standing blank faced off to one side. Frowning, he catches Twilight’s attention and points over to him. Twilight frowns and both of them go over. 

“Wild, you okay there?” Twilight asks as they approach. Wild shakes his head vigorously and smiles quickly at them both. 

“Oh! Yeah! Sorry, just lost in thought,” he says quickly. 

“What about, if I may ask?” Time asks lightly, putting an arm around Wild’s shoulders. 

“Princess Ruto.” Wild doesn’t volunteer any other information and the silence sits awkwardly for a second. 

“Well, I think you may have to fight Warriors for her,” Twilight says, gesturing to the house. Wild laughs a little. 

“No, not like that. She was really nice. Made Zora’s Domain really feel like home, you know? Very friendly.” Twilight fights to keep his face neutral. 

“Yeah definitely,” he manages to respond. 

“Anyway, I’m off to the fields over there. Malon asked me about getting rid of some boulder or other before we left yesterday,” Wild says. He salutes Time and Twilight and marches off across the fields. 

Once Wild is far enough away, Twilight turns to Time. “I’m sorry, but describing Ruto as ‘very nice’ and ‘very friendly’ isn’t what I would call it,” Twilight says quietly. 

“Yes. Ruto is...rather assertive with her desires,” Time responds pensively. 

“Maybe we interrupted the return of some memory and he was disoriented?” Twilight offers. Time doesn’t answer immediately, but he does finally nod. 

“Perhaps, though he has never hesitated in telling us about his memories before. Least of all you.” 

“Yeah...that’s the part that has me concerned.” 

“As of this moment, there’s nothing to be concerned about. He’ll come around in due time like he always does and he’ll confide in you then.” Twilight nods and both of them look back across the field at the distant figure of Wild. 

“Let’s just hope that comes sooner than later.”


	2. Sleepy Hands make Sturdy Stables

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild is up unusually early and makes breakfast for everybody. He insists to Twilight that he's just fine and Twilight eventually leaves him alone about it. As the days pass and the Links get more restless, Twilight and Time can't help but notice that Wild seems more and more off.

The next morning, the many Links are ripped from their sleep by the sound of a pocket cucco bawking in their ears. Many random items are thrown at the retreating form of Wild as he cackles and flees to a different room, pocket cucco in hand. They grudgingly get out of bed and make their way down for breakfast to be greeted by a beaming Wild, a happy Malon, and an enormous feast of a breakfast on the table. 

“Eat up! Got lots to do today,” Wild says cheerily. He ushers the others into their seats and runs rampant serving them and removing dishes, taking virtually no breaks. 

“Wild, why don’t you eat with us?” Time asks. 

“I already ate. I was up before dawn getting everything ready,” he chimes in as he rushes yet another set of plates out onto the table. 

“Isn’t that the sweetest? And the food is amazing! Is this how you normally eat on your voyages?” Malon asks, taking another roll. 

“Not usually this much, but yeah, the quality is always pretty good,” Twilight says a little warily, casting a glance at Time. 

“I’m glad to know that you boys aren’t going hungry then,” Malon responds, passing Wind more eggs as he wolfs down what is already on his plate. 

“I’m surprised that you would wake up so early for this. You normally have to be woken up by someone to start the meal,” Twilight comments, trying to make it seem off hand. 

“Yeah,” Wild says, “I just woke up early today is all.” Twilight waits for him to elaborate further, but Wild vanishes and returns with more rolls to replace the empty basket. Time puts a hand on Twilight’s forearm for the briefest of moments and Twilight nods slightly. Malon notices and gives Time a glance, but he shakes his head and she returns to her food. 

After everyone has finished breakfast, Malon helps them figure out how to divide the day’s work and people filter out of the house. Twilight purposely lingers and offers to help Wild with the dishes while Time goes with Malon to care for the horses. There is a surprisingly tall stack of plates by the sink. Twilight is a little awestruck that they had possibly eaten so much, but he shakes it from his mind and starts passing Wild dishes to wash. 

“The food was really good today,” Twilight says calmly. 

“Thanks. I tried to make sure everyone had a favorite out. You know, to help with homesickness and stuff,” Wild replies. He hands Twilight a wet dish and a towel. Twilight starts drying it and stacking it on the other side of the sink. 

“I think it worked. Wind looked happy for sure.” Wild beams as he shoves both his arms up to the elbows into the water to clean out a large pot he’d used to make the eggs. 

“Good! He’s still growing, so the food is most important for him. And Four.” Twilight nods absently and continues adding dry dishes to the stack beside him. 

“Is there...a particular reason you woke up early today?” he asks cautiously. 

“Nope,” Wild replies, suddenly very interested in a tiny discoloration in one of the bowls. 

“Did you sleep well last night?” 

“Yeah just fine. Can you put these in that cabinet there?” Wild shoves a stack of plates rather unceremoniously into Twilight’s chest and it takes a moment for Twilight to be able to stand steadily with them. He turns and moves over to the cabinet, awkwardly opening it with his elbow before carefully lifting the stack of plates into it. 

“I thought I heard someone on the roof last night, but when I went to check there was no one. Was that you again?” 

“I popped up for a second. Had trouble falling asleep at first, but the night air helped.” Wild shoves a tray of cutlery into Twilight’s chest the second he turns around. “These go in that drawer there.” 

“You just seem a little intense today is all.” Twilight keeps an eye on Wild, who has not made eye contact with him since the conversation began. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wild says calmly. Twilight puts the tray of cutlery on the counter. 

“Have good dreams then, since you’re in such a cheery mood?” 

“No. They’re just dreams. Nothing to worry about with them.” Wild turns around again and sees the cutlery tray on the counter. “I can get these. You go back to Time. I know you want to see Epona.” He reaches for the tray but Twilight stops him. 

“You sure you’re fine?” 

“I said I was. I just wanted to make breakfast,” Wild says a little angrily, finally looking Twilight in the face. “Now are you going to let me put these away or what?” Twilight lets go of his arm and puts his hands up. 

“Sorry. You’re just way more chipper than normal. It felt weird to me.” 

“I can’t just be having a good day?” Wild spits, opening the drawer and carefully inserting the tray. 

“You’re right. Sorry.” Wild goes back to the sink and starts pulling out pots. “I just worry about you sometimes.” 

“There’s no need. We’re safe here and well fed and rested,” Wild insists, glancing pointedly over his shoulder at Twilight. “Now get to your chores. I need to check on Four and Wind and see if they got the cows milked so I can make dessert later. I promised Malon.” 

“All right. I’ll see you later then.” Twilight hesitates in the doorway, watching Wild as he precariously balances pots and pans in his arm to get them all in one trip to the appropriate cabinet. As expected, Wild takes one step and drops them all. Twilight can’t help but laugh and Wild chases him out of the house with a frying pan in hand.

  
  


Many of the Links begin to get restless after staying a couple more days at Lon Lon Ranch. Time seems content as ever, but it’s clear to him that they need to move on soon. Malon shifts their chores to include larger projects that she can’t get done by herself, like adding a few more stalls onto the stable. Wild and Sky volunteer to tackle that project and are busy working at it when Malon and Time came to check on them. 

“You’ve made good progress,” Malon admires, “This framing is very well done.” 

“Thank you!” Sky beams. “It’s always been a hidden talent of mine and I’m glad to be of service in using it.” Wild lets out a huge yawn and shakes his head before shifting one of the central roof beams into position. 

“Tired already, Wild?” Time asks lightly, patting him on the back. Wild smiles meekly at him. 

“Yeah. This is definitely different from the adventuring I’m used to,” Wild replies. 

“Knight training doesn’t prepare you for building a stable, unfortunately,” Sky adds from his perch above. “But don’t worry. You’re doing well.” 

“Thanks,” Wild says, yawning again. 

“Well I’m sure you’ve been sleeping like a rock these last couple of nights. You of all the boys has been doing some of the most demanding work,” Malon points out. 

“That’s true. Normally you don’t go for that kind of work,” Time adds. 

“Yeah,” he pauses. “I figure if I want to beat Twilight at arm wrestling that I better do some tougher work and build up that muscle.” He yawns again and the beam he’s holding moves. 

“Whoa hey! Steady!” Sky calls down. 

“Sorry!” Wild quickly readjusts and steadies the beam again. Sky waits for the beam to definitely be still before he shifts along and resumes his work securing it. 

“We don’t want our stall roof to be crooked,” Sky adds. 

“I know. Sorry. Won’t happen again.” Wild shifts his stance on the ladder to get a more solid grip on the beam so it won’t move again as he lets out another yawn. 

“Just be careful, you two. This height won’t kill you, but it will certainly hurt,” Malon scolds lightly. 

“Yes ma’am,” Sky and Wild respond. Time and Malon start making their way back to the house. 

“Maybe you should send Wild to bed early tonight,” Time says. 

“Why me?” Malon asks curiously. 

“I don’t want to seem intrusive.” 

“Oh but it’s fine if I do it?” Malon teases. Time laughs lightly. 

“I think it would be better coming from you, yes. Kinder.” Malon can see concern behind her husband’s eye and her smile falters. 

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. He’s just tired from all the work he’s been doing lately.” 

“That’s true.” Time glances back over his shoulder and Malon chuckles. “What?” 

“I know we’ve wondered about having children before. I never thought you would go and adopt 8 other versions of yourself, though.” Time chuckles and gives Malon a quick hug. 

“Humor an old man.” 

“Not if that makes me an old lady.” Time laughs and follows Malon into the house. 

Later that evening, Wild comes in from the stables with Sky. Sky sits down heavily in a chair, alternately flexing his fingers and curling them into fists. Wild yawns and leans against the doorframe. 

“That woodworking stuff you were doing,” he manages to get out between yawns, “That’s a lot of fine work. Very small details.” 

“Thank you for noticing,” Sky says, smiling slightly. “It doesn’t hurt to make things look nice while you work.” He sits up a little to look over at Wild, then sits stock still. Wild’s head is hanging down and his eyes are closed. The door behind Wild swings up, startling him awake. He automatically reaches for where his weapon normally hangs, but relaxes when he remembers where he is. 

“Didn’t mean to startle you,” Twilight says as he passes by Wild to sit in the chair by Sky. 

“No problem. Caught me off guard is all,” Wild says smoothly, leaning back against the doorframe. 

“Off guard? Wild, you were fully asleep standing up!” Sky corrects. “You should have told me how tired you were. I wouldn’t have kept you out there so long or doing all the heavy lifting for me.” Wild shrugs and waves it off, yawning in the process. 

“I’m fine. Besides, your job would have been harder if you had to climb down from the roof every time you wanted more materials.” 

“No mishaps in the transfer I hope,” Twilight says cautiously. 

“Thankfully not, though this does explain some of the delays you had in responding to me,” Sky answers. 

“I was just distracted. There were some bugs that I was trying to catch to see if I could make an elixir,” Wild says. 

“Either way, you should really get to bed,” Sky says with a hint of concern. “You must be absolutely exhausted and we’ll need your strength when we leave.” 

“I’m not that tired. I can make it through dinner at least,” Wild says unconvincingly. 

“No, come on now,” Sky says as he stands up. “Let’s get you to bed. I can wake you when dinner is ready or, better yet, bring it to you in your room so you can get right back to sleep.” He goes over to Wild and tries to usher him to his room. Wild laughs, though it sounds a little forced. 

“Sky, come on. I’ll be okay. One or two more hours won’t kill me.” 

“I think Sky’s right. You were pretty tired yesterday, too, and you don’t seem to have recovered much energy from your sleep last night,” Twilight chips in. 

“Guys really. Just dinner and then I’ll go, okay? Can you at least allow me that much?” Sky looks over at Twilight, who is considering Wild’s expression carefully. He can see the exhaustion clearly written all over Wild’s features, but he’s wary of causing an argument with him since he knows how Wild can be. 

“Only if you go immediately after we finish,” Twilight says a little more sternly than usual. Wild chuckles. 

“Okay, Dad.” 

“Did someone call?” Time asks as he walks into the room. Sky and Wild laugh, but Twilight doesn’t even break a smile. “Dinner’s ready now, so why don’t you three go ahead and start eating. I’ll get the others.” Sky and Wild head over to the table, but Twilight hangs back. 

“Wild said he’d go to bed after dinner if we let him eat with us,” he informs Time. “I’ll keep an ear out to make sure he isn’t having nightmares.” Time nods. 

“Has he had any the past few nights?” 

“No, but he has been suspiciously quiet at night.” 

“We’ll have to keep an ear out. Maybe setup watches so we can check on him better.” Twilight shifts a little uncomfortably. “Something wrong?” 

“We’re doing the right thing, right? There’s clearly something going on and all this...sneaking around him is warranted, right?” 

“I have no idea.” Twilight is visibly shocked and Time chuckles a little sadly. “Hard to hear when I don’t have an answer is it.” 

“A little, yeah.” 

“We’ll see what I think in the morning.” Time pats Twilight on the shoulder and gently pushes him towards dinner. Without waiting to see if he actually goes, Time heads back out the door to make sure the others are coming in.


	3. Careless Knights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Sky and Wild work on finishing the roof, they try and bond. Sky even teaches Wild how to properly install the shingles. However, even Sky starts to notice that Wild is not acting like his normal self and begins to get progressively more concerned until things come to a head.

The next morning, Twilight emerges from his room a little earlier than normal. His had been the last watch of the night and it had gone uneventfully. There had been a moment where he thought he heard someone on the roof again, but it was empty when he went up to check. He makes his way to the kitchen, but Wild isn’t there. Malon appears and rubs her hands together. 

“Good morning!” she says cheerily. “Care to help me with breakfast? I think Wild is finally getting some good rest.” 

“Yeah sure,” Twilight says, glancing over his shoulder down the hallway. He doesn’t have much time to think of anything besides making breakfast after that point. He never realized how much work went into cooking for 9 Links and he was trying desperately to keep from ruining anything. Thankfully, Malon stands over his shoulder and dictates every little thing to him as he cooks, so he feels fairly confident that the food is turning out fine. A clattering from the hallway indicates to the pair that the other Links have finally awoken. Malon starts rushing the plates to the table and manages to get it all down before the army arrives. Twilight and Malon sit down at their places next to Time and everyone digs in. Twilight glances around the table, lingering on Wild the longest. He seems fine, energetic and happy, but Twilight can’t help but still feel wary about the whole thing. 

After breakfast, the boys split back up into their groups and return to their projects. Wild follows Sky back out towards the stables. The framework for the roof extension is all set up and just needs closing off to make it a real roof. Sky had spent time carving designs into the posts that would be exposed and Wild pauses a second to admire the work again. 

“Ready for this?” Sky asks, climbing up the frame and back onto the roof. “We’ve got to put these shingles down and make sure water won’t leak down.” 

“Yes, sir!” Wild replies, leaning over and grabbing some of the wooden shingles. He carries them up the ladder and hefts them over to Sky, who starts arranging them and nailing them down. The work continues rather monotonously, but Sky fills the void by telling Wild about Skyloft and his beloved loftwing. 

“Why don’t you join me up here and I can show you how to do this? Then you can start the other side and we can finish faster,” Sky offers. 

“If you think that’s a good idea. I haven’t really built things much besides here,” Wild replies warily, yawning once and stretching out his back. 

“Now is as good a time to learn as any,” Sky says brightly. Wild climbs up and kneels next to Sky on the roof. Slowly, Sky shows him the process and lets Wild try his hand several times. Once Wild’s work is sufficient, Sky sections off a portion of the roof for Wild to start working by himself. The two work a little more quietly, occasionally going down the ladder to retrieve more shingles. Sky starts to notice Wild’s pace slow down and he starts to stretch and shake himself out more and more frequently. “A bit sore from yesterday are you?” he jokes. 

“Yeah, just sore,” Wild replies. He kneels back down with a very focused expression on his face. They continue their work and Wild starts fighting back more and more yawns. Sky laughs at a particularly large yawn that Wild ultimately fails to keep in. 

“Looks like you need a lot more sleep!” 

“I’m fine. It’s just the soreness,” Wild insists, yawning yet again and shaking his head vigorously once more. 

“Whatever you say, Wild,” Sky says with a grin. They continue working and Sky notices Wild’s pace slow down significantly once more. He glances back towards the house and up at the sun, knowing that lunch must probably be ready soon. “Wild, why don’t we take a quick break. Malon could probably use your help making lunch anyway.” He turns to face Wild, who is still kneeling down with the roofing tools loosely in hand. “Wild?” Sky starts walking over towards him and notices his weight start to shift backwards. “WILD!” Sky lunges forward as Wild starts to slide off the roof. His shout rouses Wild, but he’s disoriented and flails wildly at suddenly finding himself falling backwards. Sky manages to grab ahold of one of Wild’s legs just as Wild falls over the edge, but he’s too late. Wild’s momentum and flails send them both off the roof. 

A primal scream bursts from Sky’s mouth as he lands with an audible crack. Wild, winded from landing almost flat on his back, struggles to roll over and look at Sky. He manages to catch a glimpse of Sky curled up in a ball next to him and Time and Malon rushing over from the house. Finally, his breath returns to him and he gasps and coughs as he sits up and puts a hand on Sky’s shoulder. He leans over and sees Sky’s arm is bent at a very wrong angle. Time and Malon arrive and huddle over Sky. 

“Oh my gods,” Malon whispers. Time looks up at Wild. 

“Get Hyrule, now,” he barks. 

“I-I’m sorry,” Wild splutters. 

“GET HYRULE NOW!” Wild flinches and scrambles to his feet, taking off across the field to where he thinks Hyrule is. Panting heavily, he finds Hyrule and simply grabs his arm and turns around. Worry immediately spreads across Hyrule’s face and he runs ahead of Wild. Legend and Four keep pace with an unusually slow Wild until they are close enough to the stable to see the group huddle together. 

They race ahead, leaving Wild standing by himself about 20 meters from the others. After some time, the group splits apart and Hyrule helps Sky, carrying his arm, back into the house. Most of the others follow after them, leaving Time and Twilight alone by the stables. In sync, both turn and look at Wild. Shrinking a little, Wild slowly approaches them and looks at the spot where Sky had landed. 

“What happened?” comes Time’s icy voice. 

“I...I started falling off and Sky tried to stop it, but we both went over,” Wild answers meekly. 

“Did you slip?” Wild starts rubbing his hand along his arm, still looking at the ground. Suddenly, Time grabs Wild’s face and forces him to look him in the eye. “Did. You. Slip.” 

“N-no.” 

“Then what happened?” 

“I was just kneeling there and started falling backwards! I just lost my balance for a second!” Wild pulls away from Time and sees Twilight’s hard face. “I swear! That’s all that happened! You don’t think I pushed him, do you?” 

“Of course not. Don’t be stupid,” Twilight says. Wild relaxes a little, but the fury is still so deep in Time’s eye that he can’t look at him yet. 

“You fell asleep again,” Time says plainly. 

“No I--” 

“Yes you did, Wild!” Wild flinches backwards and Twilight puts a hand on Time’s shoulder. Time takes a step back and closes his eye a second. When he opens them again, he looks out across the field first before he looks back at Wild. “You haven’t been sleeping.” It takes Wild a minute to find his voice again. 

“N-not really well, no,” he whispers. The fury in Time’s eye transforms into exhaustion and he drags a hand down his face. 

“Wild, you could have told us,” Twilight says, stepping forward and putting a comforting hand on Wild’s shoulder. 

“It’s not a big deal. They’re just dreams.” Wild doesn’t look at Twilight now either. 

“It clearly is a big deal if you haven’t been sleeping well,” Twilight says gently. Wild doesn’t reply. “Besides, dreams don’t make you avoid sleeping. Not even your nightmares did that.” Wild looks suspiciously at Twilight. 

“I never said I was avoiding sleeping.” 

“Wild, Sky is in the house with a broken arm because you fell asleep and fell off the roof. You’re lucky he isn’t dead from a broken neck,” Time says coldly. Wild shrinks. “If you were just sleeping poorly, this wouldn’t have happened.” 

“What memories are coming back to you?” Twilight asks. 

“They’re just dreams, Twi. I told you already,” Wild insists. 

“Wild, they clearly aren’t.” 

“Yes they are!” 

“Wild--” 

“THEY’RE JUST DREAMS!” Wild screams, shoving Twilight’s hand off his shoulder. “They have to be dreams!” Wild puts his hands on his head. “They’re just dreams, I swear. They have to be dreams.” He falls to his knees, tears starting to fall from his eyes. Twilight kneels beside him and waves Time off. Wild and Twilight just sit there quietly for several moments. Eventually, Wild puts his hands down and starts taking deep breaths with his eyes closed. 

“So what are these dreams then,” Twilight asks, breaking the silence. Wild flinches a little at the sound of his voice. 

“They hated me,” Wild whispers. 

“Who?” 

“Zelda. Revali. Even Daruk and Urbosa were always telling me I needed to keep training. They all hated me.” 

“Suggesting you keep training doesn’t mean they hated you.” 

“Yeah great. So only 2 of them hated me and they died because I didn’t train enough,” Wild spits back. Twilight puts his hands up. 

“I never said that at all.” Wild hangs his head again. “You know Mipha didn’t.” Slowly, Wild nods. “What did she like about you so much, huh?” He waits for Wild to answer, but he doesn’t. “Know what I think?” Wild shakes his head. “I think she liked your soul.” Wild frowns a little and looks up at Twilight. “In the Twilight realm, the Twili live as their souls and the people of our realm are just balls of light. Well except me,” he adds as an afterthought. “But seeing all those souls made it easier for me to see them in our world and yours is interesting. It’s definitely the oldest one I’ve ever seen.” He grins and gently nudges Wild, who laughs softly and rubs his nose. “You’ve got a good soul, kid. Nobody doubts that. Maybe a little scarred, but always from trying to do the right thing.” Wild looks back down at his hands. 

“Daruk and Urbosa were always worried I would get hurt.” 

“Well they should be! Look at this! And that!” Twilight pokes at different scars on Wild’s face as Wild tries to swat his hand away. “Getting hurt is part of the job. They’re nothing but Time in different bodies. They cared a lot if they wanted you to train more to keep from getting hurt. And Zelda. She may not have been a fan to start, but she came around in the end.” Wild laughs a little. 

“You know, I had to beat Revali at archery before he called me his friend.” 

“There! See? None of them hated you. Except maybe at the start,” Twilight adds quickly when Wild starts to protest. “But they got over themselves and did what it took to help you. All the way to the end.” Twilight puts his hand back on Wild’s shoulder. Wild looks back down at the ground where Sky had been lying. “He would, too.” Wild looks back up at Twilight. “Just so you know, he was asking about you while Hyrule was putting the splint on his arm.” Wild smiles, slightly embarrassed. 

“Time was pretty angry.” 

“Yeah, but you would be too if one of us got hurt at your house.” Wild nods a little and yawns again. “Will you actually sleep tonight?” 

“I can try I guess.” 

“How were you getting away with it these last few days?” Twilight asks, standing up and holding a hand out to Wild. 

“Stamina and haste potions mostly. But I ran out last night,” Wild admits, taking Twilight’s hand and standing up. 

“That why you finally fell asleep on the job?” Wild winces and kicks at the dirt. 

“Yeah...and that was me on the roof those times.” 

“I figured.” Twilight pats Wild on the back and gestures to the house. Wild takes a deep breath and starts walking over. They enter and the room falls silent. “Yeah that’s not weird at all.” Legend, Four, and Wind look away from the pair quickly, suddenly intrigued in the decorations around them. Wild goes over to Sky, who is sitting in the main chair with Hyrule on the footrest next to him. Sky’s arm no longer looks wrong, but Hyrule has wrapped it in a million layers of cloth to keep the splint firmly on it by now. 

“How’re you doing, Wild?” Sky asks before Wild can say anything. 

“I should be asking you that, really,” Wild says sheepishly. Sky waves it away. 

“It’s just an arm. It’ll heal quickly with Hyrule’s help. Not like it hasn’t happened before. Loftwings aren’t the biggest fans of being ridden the first few times,” Sky replies with a grin on his face. Wild relaxes a little and smiles back. 

“I’m okay. Just tired I guess.” Warriors, Time, Legend, and Sky all cheer at this, startling Twilight and Wild. 

“He’s tired, ladies and gentleman! The wildness has been contained!” Warriors shouts, standing and whistling like he’s part of an enormous crowd. 

“Am I missing something?” Wild asks, very confused. 

“It was obvious you were overworking yourself. That’s not healthy,” Legend says. “Admitting you’re tired means we’re allowed to force you to stop working.” 

“Malon has some tea prepared to help you fall asleep,” Time chimes in. “Your back must hurt from the fall, too, so we put extra pillows on your bed.” 

“Don’t worry about the stables. You’ll find Four and I are very capable workers ourselves,” Warriors adds, smacking Wild on the back. 

“Wait, what?” Four asks. Warriors simply laughs and puts an arm around Wild’s shoulders. 

“Now come on. Off to bed with you!” Before Wild can say anything, Warriors forces him from the room and towards his bed, which has indeed been cushioned more. A hot cup of tea is sitting on the table nearby and Warriors refuses to leave the room until Wild has drunk the entire cup and laid down on the bed. As soon as Wild lies down, he can feel the weight of his exhaustion crush him and he falls asleep all but instantly. 

Warriors quietly slips out of the room and back to the living room, where Sky, Time, and Twilight are the only Links left. “He’s out. For real this time,” he confirms. Twilight and Time breathe a sigh of relief. 

“You were kind of harsh with him,” Twilight tells Time. 

“Yeah, we could hear you from here,” Warriors adds. 

“I know. I shouldn’t have. It was just...so preventable,” Time replies. 

“Why not go back and change it then?” Sky offers. “You are ‘Time’ after all.” Time chuckles a little. 

“It’s never that easy. I could have prevented you from breaking your arm, but Wild wouldn’t have gotten better until something else happened. This time it was just a broken arm in a safe location. Had it not happened now, he might have gotten killed in battle later because he couldn’t react in time.” None of the others respond. 

“Is there really nothing we can do to help him with this, though?” Sky asks after a moment. 

“None that I know of. His time is so far removed from ours and he is so far removed from his own time that I don’t know what would help,” Time admits sadly. 

“Twilight?” 

“I’m doing what I can already. It’s not much since he often doesn’t know the problem until it smacks him in the face and all we can do is react and try and prevent further damage,” Twilight confesses. 

“Very well. Warriors, it’s up to us then,” Sky says, determined. Warriors blinks. 

“What could we possibly do?” he asks. 

“We’re the only other knights here with him. That’s got to help. And besides, you’ve failed plenty of people.” Warriors levels a look at Sky, causing Time and Twilight to burst out laughing. “No! I meant...well you have, but you figured it out! You succeeded eventually. We might be able to help him from that perspective?” 

“Well, we can try.” Sky looks a little relieved. “But don’t think I’m forgetting that comment the next time you fall from a roof.” Time and Twilight start laughing again and Sky blushes, embarrassed. 

The next day, Wild doesn’t wake up until the middle of the afternoon. He finds the house completely empty. Not even Sky is inside. He steps out into the daylight, shielding his eyes. 

“Wild! There you are!” Warriors calls out. Wild turns to face him and blinks several times. Warriors is standing in a makeshift sparring circle. 

“Warriors…?” 

“Well come on then. We think you could use a refresher on your knight training since it's been at least a century since you last studied properly,” Warriors says, tossing a wooden sword in his direction. 

Wild catches it and comes forward. “Now then. Let’s see what we’re working with. SKY! KEEP TABS!” Wild looks around and sees Sky poke his head around a fence. 

“COMING!” Sky calls. Wild feels a sting on the back of his sword hand. He drops the wooden sword and looks back at Warriors. 

“Don’t be caught off guard. Pick it up, let’s go.” Wild picks up the wooden sword and fully faces Warriors. 

Twilight glances over at the trio from his spot on the roof of the stables. “This probably won’t end well,” he says. Time looks up, too. 

“Well, Hyrule is nearby,” he replies. There’s a loud smack and shout, then some swearing followed by another loud smack and Warriors’s laughter. “I think it’ll be fine,” Time adds, resuming his work. Twilight shrugs and jumps off the roof to get another bag of shingles.


End file.
